May 19, 2006

Wake the hell up

Parents are angry and school leaders are promising action in response to a "Heterosexual Questionnaire," approved by two teachers, that asked students questions such as: "If you have never slept with someone of your same gender, then how do you know you wouldn't prefer it?"

Hundreds of Port Washington High School students were told to submit written answers and discuss the survey.

The questionnaire was distributed by a student organization, which then led a full class-period discussion. Two teachers approved distribution of the survey. The principal did not.

Where the hell are these teachers' brains? And the teachers don't even teach health/phys. ed. as you might expect -- they teach social studies and communications!

The good news: The school principal and school board president are pissed, and promise nothing like this will happen again. No word yet on disciplinary action against the teachers, although a reprimand would be sufficient, in my opinion. One dopey-minded incident shouldn't lead to a firing. The article does say the teachers "are very remorseful."

Comments (We reserve the right to edit and/or delete any comments. If your comment is blocked or won't post, e-mail us and we'll post it for you.)

"If you have never slept with someone of your same gender, then how do you know you wouldn't prefer it?"

Absurd. And oddly, it's the exact same mentality as your average wingnut who claims that homosexuality is a choice; The group you cite appears to encourage going against one's own instinctual feelings to explore homosexuality---while intolerant, bigoted members of the far right encourage going against's one's own instinctual feelings to suppress homosexuality.

I trust that you dislike both equally, Felix. I know I do. Though I won't hold my breath waiting for your bashing of the next loony tidbit from the religious right.

The point is, the analogy is clear and correct-- and as I said, interesting. I was pointing out that these dummies ("lefties", presumably) actually have the exact same mindset as those religious conservatives they criticize.

Oh, and AJ? Good attempt at the trying-to-marginalize-the-religious-right thing. But last I checked, a nice chunk of Americans believe homosexuality is a choice. Here's one survey from '04--- 46% of Bush supporters believe it's a choice, compared to 26% of Kerry voters.

Dan:
Read your poll again, I took the liberty of pasting the pertinent parts below. IMHO, it is very poorly worded and the conclusions as written are unclear (but you conveniently cheery-picked that which supports your hysteria).

Below is the verbatim data from the CBS pool.

IS DEFINING MARRIAGE AS ONLY BETWEEN A MAN AND WOMAN IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO CHANGE THE U.S. CONSTITUTION?

Yes
40%
No
56%

Those who voted for Bush earlier this month, conservatives, and weekly churchgoers are more likely to think amending the Constitution to define marriage is an important issue.

47% say being homosexual is something a person cannot change (an increase from March), while 39% believe being gay or lesbian is a choice that people make. Bush and Kerry’s voters hold different views; 46% of Bush supporters think homosexuality is a choice, compared to 26% of Kerry’s voters.

Views on whether homosexuality is a choice inform views of same sex couples’ relationships. Of those who believe homosexuality is a choice, 67% oppose any legal recognition of same-sex relationships. Among those who believe homosexuality is not a choice, 73% favor some type of legal recognition of same-sex relationships.

MY QUESTION IS THE POLL SEEMS TO BE CLAIMING 46% OC CONSERVATIBVE/ CHURCH-GOING BUSH SUPPORTERS BUT NOT ALL BUSH SUPPORTERS (THAT IS A HUGE DIFFERENCE FROM WHAT DAN CLAIMED).

I found a Washington Post poll citing 33% (albeit an older one, circa '99)... and a couple others in the low 30's to upper 30's.

There's no point in arguing. I know, AJ. No matter how many I find, they'll all be bogus, misleading, liberally biased, phony, or the work of Bill Clinton. Probably no point in wasting any more of either of our time on a nice spring evening (at least where I live).